this weekend

Friday started off great, with Korean BBQ at Hae Woon Dae, and then a party at Vida Lounge thrown by the Latin American and Hispanic Management Association (LAHIMA).

For today, I'm spending the morning and early afternoon cleaning up and doing laundry.  There are a couple of big events going on in Chicago, but Kellogg's last formal of the year, Casino Night, is tonight, so I've got to head up to Evanston.  Therefore, it's likely that I'll try to check out Dillo Day 2008 - I'm hoping to make it up there in time to see Broken Social Scene.

Not sure what tomorrow's gonna look like, but I'm thinking of checking out the Do Division Street Fest.

memorial day weekend

Here are a few pictures from my brief trip to California:

Dolores Park - my favorite park in the city.

Bi-Rite Creamery - This place actually has a shot at displacing Mitchell's as my favorite ice cream in SF.  Pictured is the salted caramel (with rocky road underneath).

My nephew Matthew spending some time on his belly.  He's a huge adorable 3-month old getting bigger everytime I see him!

Wyatt lives a few houses south of my grandmother, so I got to drop by a BBQ they were having on Sunday.  They do a good bratwurst.

My dad, Jennifer and my other grandma went to lunch at Sinbala - a Taiwanese Sausage place that supposedly clears $10k net a day!

my aches

After arriving in San Francisco yesterday afternoon to meet my family, my parents and my younger sister made new travel plans and spent the evening driving down to Pasadena.  My grandmother is going through the final stages of cancer, so we decided to spend the rest of the weekend closer to her.

Anyways, today I woke up with a major crick in my neck.  I think it's likely caused from sitting four hours on the flight from Chicago, and then another five hours on the drive down to Los Angeles. Then again, it may be from playing Final Fantasy Tactics in bed before I went to sleep.  In addition to my neck, my knee is also aching.  This one is definitely due to the injury I sustained a month or so ago.  Plus, I have a feeling all of this is also related to just getting old :(

movie or workout?

What should I do?  Work out or go watch The Singing Revolution?

Update: I worked out, then went to ESPN Zone with Jay to watch the Lakers crush the Spurs.  Overall, a very good night.

next weekend: do-division

In addition to a few Kellogg events, next weekend I plan on going to the beach and checking out the Do-Division Street Fest & Sidewalk Sale.  I went last year, and scored some cool stuff.

If you're in town for the summer, one of my favorite events last year was the Pitchfork Music Festival (which included the Flatstock 17 Poster Convention).  Three day passes have sold out, but I think it's still worth it, if only for a day.  I would probably pick Saturday myself, as I've been listening to Vampire Weekend recently, and they sound like they'd be great live.

ribs and cupcakes

Last night I finally made a trip out to Smoque BBQ.  Aziz and I are trying to make the most of these last few weeks in Chicago, and made last minute plans for some good local eats.  The layout and seating arrangements were interesting, given the class on queuing we both had earlier the day (one line people - it's just more fair!).

Here's a blog post about a cupcake place I hope opens up before I leave: More - featuring savory cupcakes (blue cheese and port, corn with bacon and maple)!

am i a total nerd?

I had assumed most people, if not everyone, would know who George Takei is.  How wrong I was.  Anyways, I went to see him speak at an undergrad Northwestern event, and he was really awesome.  I wonder how Jerry Springer did as the law school's commencement speaker.

books

I'm hoping this summer I'll have a lot of free time lounging around in San Francisco to catch up on some reading.  Here's my short list so far:

The Boat

Profiles in Courage

Mysteries of Pittsburgh

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

blogging

The NYT has an article about blogging, Exposed, that I found really interesting.

Although it's been a long time since I've blogged regularly, I can really relate to many of the feelings of the article's author.  Recently, I've been having a lot of thoughts about how much I miss blogging regularly, like I did in NY, and how I need to start again.  For me, I love the fact that my thoughts are on record, and I can share them with anyone that is interested.

The main conflict for me in regards to blogging is often I think of something that I'd like to blog about, but I don't think it's substantial enough to be interesting so I end up forgetting about it while I am trying to think of more material to add to the potential post.  Therefore, going forward, I will just start posting a bunch of random thoughts as soon as they occur, and break them into smaller posts so that I don't feel pressured into waiting until I have enough content for one big post.

absent minded

I was totally planning on posting something else, but I totally forgot what while I was browsing through pictures of Rashida Jones.  I'll try to remember, but in the meantime - Go Lakers!  Big game tonight!

karen vs. pam

This past weekend, I ended up rewatching Season Three of The Office.  It only reconfirmed by belief that Karen (Rashida Jones) is way way hotter than Pam (Jenna Fischer).

weekend update

I can't help but start with a shake-a-fist update - my U-Pass ran out last week!  The U-Pass is an unlimited CTA pass good for use on the El and Chicago city buses.  I use mine frequently, and was surprised when it was coming up invalid this weekend.  Turns out the pass expired on May 16, even though Kellogg doesn't end until June 13!  Totally a bummer, but after some cost-benefit analysis, I'm gonna bite the bullet and order a Chicago Card.

This past weekend I spent Saturday night at English for a birthday party, and on Sunday our advisors for the India trip invited the class to a dinner at one of their homes.  Overall, it was a relaxing weekend, as I did little work and just ran errands.  

bye bye bans!

I'm sure everyone has heard about the California Supreme Court's overturning of the state's ban on same-sex marriages, but there was another ban that got repealed yesterday as well (although much much much less important).

Chicago Overturns Foie Gras Ban - just one more reminder that I need to visit Hot Doug's before I leave for the summer (the only restaurant where the foie gras ban was enforced).

big game tonight

I think I haven't been this excited about the NBA playoffs in a while (since 2004 maybe?).  tonight is the big game 6 at Utah for the Lakers.  Drama hater that I am, I really really hope we close them out today.  I get so nerve-wracked that a game 7 would render me completely useless.

oh hai (hello in lolcat)

Lolcat - has anyone else heard of this?  My flickr greeting today was in lolcat, so I looked it up and it's actually pretty funny.  I may be inspired to create some Lolcat images myself someday.

With 'LOLcats' Internet Fad, Anyone Can Get In on the Joke

time flies

I can't believe my second year of school is almost over!  This year has been fantastic.  Every time I look back, I can't help but think about how fortunate I've been to have all of these opportunities.  I consider myself a lucky, lucky man.

Anyways, on to recent updates.  I know it's been a while since I last posted, and for the umpteenth time, I once again promise I will try to be better.

- Last night I went to a birthday party, and I think it may have been the first time I went out with Kellogg folks this year, if not even longer.  I don't even know why I've been MIA, but it's probably me just reverting to my homebody self.  And also the fact that I've spent far too much time playing Final Fantasy Tactics on my PSP.

- Resolution: I will beat FFT this week, so I never have to look at it again.

- Today the Lakers lost a heartbreaker to Utah in overtime.  Definitely a huge letdown.  I was always a bit worried about Utah, and their tough play, but now things look bad if Kobe if injured.

- Tonight I'm going out to celebrate a number of recent engagements among my KWEST Galapogoers.  We're trying Union Pizzeria, a pizza place in Evanston, so I'm always looking forward to new pizza.

- Resolution: From here until the end of the year, I will eat out at two new places every week.

- Another recent health update is that I tore my medial collateral ligament (MCL) a few weeks ago.  Luckily, this is the one major knee injury that doesn't require surgery, so I just need to rest it for a few more weeks and hopefully I'll be back running along the lake.

- Resolution: As soon as my knee gets better, I am getting back on yoga.  There is no question in my mind that had I still been practicing yoga, my knee never would've gotten injured.